


The Ghosts of Pompeii

by Ashtonium



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Episode: s04e03 The Fires of Pompeii, Gen, Paradox, Pyrovile
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-19
Updated: 2015-02-07
Packaged: 2018-02-17 23:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2327795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashtonium/pseuds/Ashtonium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Twelfth Doctor and Clara find themselves in 79 CE at the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in ancient Pompeii, during their stay the Doctor runs into an old, or should we say younger face, and an old friend as he and Clara try and unfold the mystery of who brought them to this time period and how they were able to gain control of the TARDIS.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Familiar Surroundings

"Dwinsdon?" The Doctor asked suddenly, swaggering about the TARDIS control panel fiddling with important looking buttons.

Clara hadn't really been paying attention all that much, so her pull back to reality made her all the more confused. "Sorry?" She asked.

"Dwinsdon," the Doctor repeated, "Small little pastries they made ages ago on Earth. Tiny little delicious things they filled up with slightly more cooked bread so it was crunchier on the inside."

Clara was suspicious, "And why are you declaring their existence?"

The Doctor shrugged, "Thought it might be nice to have one or two, since the recipe hasn't been used in a few thousand years I assumed that sort of thing might be exciting to someone of your culinary... expertise."

"Why did you pause?"

"Hm?"

"You paused, why did you pause?"

"I don't think I paused, did I? I can be very forgetful in my old age." The Doctor lied, before fiddling with a few suddenly unimportant looking buttons.

"What's wrong with my cooking?" Clara pressed, leaning on the control panel to try and sway the Doctor's gaze.

"Nothing, I just craved something a little more... ancient, a little bit more less burnt." He said carefully.

"So basically you want to eat something that looks like you do."

The Doctor turned his head to her quickly, "Oi, Missy, I can have you out of here in one second with just the flip of a switch, don't get cheeky."

"So where are these Dwindlings made?"

"Dwinsdons," He corrected, "And they don't occur much in history, only ever a few specific places. Here, let me see if I can just--"

The TARDIS jolted to a stop.

"That was a smooth landing, for your driving anyway." Clara teased.

The Doctor however stared back at the console screen in front of him as multiple circular patterns floated around.

"I didn't mean to do that." He said quietly, still looking worriedly at the screen.

"You didn't mean to park us here?" Clara asked, slightly nervously as she glanced towards the TARDIS doors, curious to what was on the other side.

"No," He said dimly, "We stopped moving too quickly." He looked to Clara, his face grim, "Something else might have done that."

Clara was growing slightly more worried as he continued to stare at her unblinking. All of a sudden, he was moving, walking towards her.

"Or I could have pressed a lever too quickly," He said simply as he whipped up his coat from the railing and slid it on, "That sometimes happens, I'm sure it'll be fine."

Clara smirked at him, "So, where are we then?" She asked, nudging him with her shoulder.

"We'll find out once we walk outside now won't we?" He scoffed, "Humans, always trying to ruin the surprise." He began walking towards the doors.

Clara quickly followed after him, "Alright then mister tourist of the universe, I just didn't want to walk out into a lava planet or the vacuum of space knowing your parking jobs."

"That only happened once, AND I got the external oxygen fields up relatively quickly if you remember." He insisted, bewildered as to how his skill could be critiqued in any way.

"No I don't remember. Because I passed out!" Clara rebutted as the Doctor opened the TARDIS doors, presumably to escape the argument he had inevitably lost.

Clara's eyes and ears had to work quickly to adjust to the sights and sounds presented to her. Light burst through the doors and as she stepped out she felt the warm sun flow over her and basked for a moment in its bright glow before looking around trying to figure out where they ended up.

The Doctor was only a meter or two away from her, looking at some small pots on a wooden table. People bustled past Clara left and right, barely giving her a glance, from their clothing and unsubtle... lack of hygiene she was able to decipher that they were far into the past.

She skipped over to the Doctor who was still duly fascinated by the pots in front of him and span on her heels slightly as she asked, "So, when and where are we?"

"Ancient Rome," He responded, glancing to her quickly before returning to the utensils on sale. "Some time between 100 and 50 CE if I got my dates right."

Clara turned her head as she looked to the sky, it seemed slightly lighter in its blue hue. The air also tasted slightly nicer if that made sense. Clara's eyes were slowly drawn to a darker part of the sky as she focused on something definitely not part of the sky.

"Doctor?" She asked worriedly, staring off into the sky over the city's reach.

"Yes?" He responded lazily, obviously caught up in the products in front of him.

"Where exactly in Ancient Rome are we?" Clara asked nervously, stunned by the sight before her as well as the fact no in the city was panicking, they all walked by, uncaring to the looming destruction on the horizon.

"Doctor!" Clara said again, louder this time as he failed to answer her question.

"Yes, yes I'm here." He replied, walking over to her and standing directly in her line of sight, "What do you think? Not too shabby for some lunch if I do say so myself."

Clara continued to stare directly at the Doctor until he picked up on what was happening. "What? What's wrong?"

Clara sighed, gripping the Doctor's shoulders she twisted him sharply 180 degrees to face the tall pillar of dark smoke climbing from a point on the horizon.

"Where in Ancient Rome are we?" She asked again.

"Oh," he said emptily, "I've made a mistake."

"Really?" Clara asked incredulously, "What could have given you that idea?"

"Well the volcano might have helped a little."

"So, where are we?" She asked again.

Before the Doctor could reply she heard a shudder, technically speaking she felt it before she heard it but the ground shook loudly nevertheless. The large tower of smoke was dark and deathly as it spewed from Mount Vesuvius, casting a shadow over the mountain range that would slowly move to cover the city in a few hours.

Clara stumbled slightly and gripped the Doctor's arm as her heels did little to hold her balance.

The people on the streets reacted unexpectedly as some of them casually steadied themselves. Some reached to stop their valuables from falling to the ground and Clara saw one parent pick up their small child as the earthquake frightened them.

The Doctor kept a steady gaze fixed on the horizon however, not moving and not thrown off balance. It was all over within a matter of seconds, the shaking ceased and some people gave a haughty laugh as they picked themselves up again.

"We're not in Rome," the Doctor finally said, "We're in Pompeii, and it's--"

"Yeah its volcano day, I get that." Clara interrupted, the Doctor sighed melodramatically and murmured something about 'his line'.

"We need to leave." He said, quickly pacing back toward the TARDIS.

Clara quickly hurried after the Doctor as he almost ran to the TARDIS console.

"Wait, Doctor!" She shouted, closing the doors loudly. "What happened, how did we end up here?"

"I told you," he replied, attempting to sound casual, "I made an error in my calculations, we ended up where we weren't supposed to be and in a jiffy we'll be having a beautiful lunch with Caesar himself."

"But what about the people in the city? They're all going to die out there in a day or two!" Clara beckoned, purposefully raising her voice so that he would stop flipping switched.

"I've explained fixed points in time before to you, big events that shape the future of a significant amount of life. The eruption of Vesuvius definitely counts as a fixed point." He almost looked manic as he continued pressing buttons and fiddling with devices, she could feel his urgency yet pressed on.

"Then why are you in such a hurry? What's going on?" She demanded, this time standing in the Doctor's way so that he could no longer pace circularly around the TARDIS.

He looked her in the eyes, standing tall for a moment he then let his shoulders sag as he sighed and retreated away from the console, "I've been here before, a long time ago, I got too involved with everything. I thought you would know that since you went through my entire timeline."

Clara smirked slightly, "I don't remember everything you know, there'll still be stuff you'll have to remind me about. What happened while you were here?"

He stayed silent and looked directly at the TARDIS' glass frame that stood above the console. "I caused the eruption. It was my fault the volcano erupted in the first place."

Clara stood as straight as ever, not allowing emotion to alter her face, “How?” She asked.

The Doctor sighed and looked to her, quickly and then back to the TARDIS frame. "There were these creatures, Pyroviles, they were using the energy from the volcano to fuel themselves. Their home planet had been lost so they came here, they were going to become powerful enough to take Earth for themselves and so through a long, very complicated journey involving a rather strange cult I was forced to activate the eruption of Vesuvius, stop the Pyroviles from taking the Earth and avoid the destruction of the timeline."

Clara stood still, silently, not knowing what to say.

"There was one small family I saved. That was it, four people."

"Sometimes four people is enough." Clara said quietly.

The Doctor laughed, but not out of humour. "Four people was definitely not enough at the time and it is certainly not enough now. We should leave, I have a terrible habit of running into my former selves and we could without a temporal paradox at the moment." He said before stepping back to the controls, "Is that alright?" He asked Clara, looking to her expectantly.

"Yes, I suppose so." She answered, attempting to hide her gloom. "Is there such a thing as a spatial paradox?" She asked, trying to spark a conversation away from the problem at hand.

"I'm sorry?" He asked, bewildered, before his fingers could begin moving the controls.

"Well you never cease talking about paradoxes in time, I was just thinking is there a way for a spatial paradox to exist? Or is that just silly?" She explained, imitating his accent slightly.

"I've never encountered one before, if I do then I'll make sure to call you."

"Oh, well please do." She replied, smiling.

The Doctor smiled back at her and reached for the main lever fixed into the TARDIS control panel, looking to the doors he flipped it down sharply, both of the passengers inside prepared themselves to be thrown off balance dramatically. But after a second of waiting... nothing occurred. Looking around quizzically Clara turned her head over the TARDIS, hoping for a clue as to why they were still stationary. She looked to the Doctor who seemed just as confused as she did.

"Uhhhh, problem with the starter?" Clara asked.

"Haha," The Doctor replied dryly, "Here, let me just..." The Doctor moved to another side of the control panel and pressed a few buttons in quick succession, he seemed to expect something was going to occur but yet again he was let down as the TARDIS remained unmoved, the engine was completely silent, almost as if it was off yet all the lights and mechanics inside were still on and seemingly functioning. It was as if the controls were still capable of being altered or pressed, yet they did nothing in truth.

"That is extremely... odd." The Doctor stated.

"What's happened to the engine?" Clara asked, beginning to circle the main room.

The Doctor was silent, not looking to Clara as he attempted to coax the TARDIS to come to life again by gently hitting the controls.

"Doctor?"

"The engine, it's gone." He replied, emotionless.


	2. People of Pompeii

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Twelfth Doctor and Clara find themselves in 79 BCE at the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in ancient Pompeii, during their stay the Doctor runs into an old, or should we say younger face, and an old friend as he and Clara try and unfold the mystery of who brought them to this time period and how they were able to gain control of the TARDIS.

Clara looked intently at the Doctor as he stood, silent still.

"What?" Is all she could muster.

"It seems that someone has thrown a wrench into the TARDIS' engine," He replied calmly, "It still responds to the controls, they just... don't... do... anything."

"How is that possible? Can you fix it? Who could have done something like that?" Clara asked in rapid succession as she approached the Doctor, he backed away as quickly as Clara hurried forward in an attempt to quickly formulate an answer.

"Now, now, now I know this looks bad--" He attempted to respond.

"Looks bad?!" Clara practically shouted, "It doesn't look anything because we can't see what's gone wrong!"

The Doctor remained silent as he continued to think of how to fix the situation, Clara merely placed her head in her hands and sighed heavily as she leaned against the TARDIS console. The Doctor began pacing around the TARDIS deep in thought, a few times he seemed to brim with a new idea and rushed to the console before pressing random buttons, finding they did nothing and giving up again, this happened at least three times in the course of five minutes.

Clara finally broke the silence by asking, "What has the power to stop the TARDIS? And what in ancient Pompeii could possibly have the power?"

The Doctor simply blinked, "Lots of things actually, you'd be surprised how many technological advancements exist in ancient times. Owned by people from the early 25th century who found the power to time travel and decided to try and become gods by showing off their gadgets. Attention seekers if you ask me."

"Why don't we go outside?" Clara suggested.

"I don't exactly want to mess with history more than I already have. Plus, I got the time period wrong, Dwinsdons won't be invented for another fifteen years."

"Well, the way I see it, we have a certain period of time to stay here until we figure out what's wrong with the TARDIS, an entire city to explore before it goes down in flames and the potential to save many lives just by suggesting they take a holiday." Clara said as she crept towards the door.

"No, no, bad idea. There's another version of me running around out there and bumping into him would be a very bad idea indeed." The Doctor said as he tried to bring Clara back to the console.

"What would be so bad about that? Just think of it like having a twin, that wouldn't be so bad. My old mates Marie and Rose were twins and they weren't so bad."

"Have you ever had a twin?"

"Have you?" Clara countered.

"No, but I'm sure it'd be terrible having one."

"Please, please just for an hour, at the very most. You wanted to come here in the first place, just a quick look around I promise." Clara begged.

The Doctor sighed and looked her in the eye, she tried harder to convince him to leave, "Look, if we run into your former self, he won't even know you, so just don't make eye contact and awkwardly shimmy past if he notices your weird clothes." She said, grinning hard to win him over.

"My clothes aren't weird!" He said defensively.

"Not weird, bad word, just... out of date for Pompeii." The Doctor sighed again, "Fifty minutes, barely any time there. Enough to get some other type of obscure pastry maybe?"

"Fine, but any temporal shifts or paradox warnings and we are leaving immediately." The Doctor said authoratatively whilst pointing a finger at Clara.

Clara looked at it, then back to the Doctor and a smirk spread across her face, "Deal." She almost yelled before running out the TARDIS doors, she looked at Mount Vesuvius on the horizon and was reminded of what was to come, her smirk faded a little bit. Then all of a sudden the door slammed behind her and she heard it lock, the Doctor sauntered out with a small keyring and pointer lock in his hand.

"Deadlock, the TARDIS is impenetrable for the most part, but a deadlock seal on the controls means it doesn't even move no matter how much you try. You could blow up the entire planet and coordinates-wise it'd still be standing still." He declared with a smile.

Clara looked up to him and grinned, lifting an arm up to him with a gesture she asked, "Where to first?"

As the Doctor answered their voices were drowned out by the crowds walking through the hardened streets, as they turned and disappeared from view of the TARDIS a small metal creatrure scuttled out from the side and looked to the last point it could see them. It seemed to blink and then flashed green and disappeared from view, only a shimmer of air standing ten centimetres at most off the ground. The creature crept quickly down the side of the TARDIS and flicked it's body down onto the streets, easily avoiding the feet and hooves stomping around it. It moved across the street and behind a small vendor shop where it was greeted by its owner, the owner moved their hand to the ground and lifted the creature into the air and into a small box on a shelf behind them, even though the creature was invisible to the humans surrounding it it's owner would always be able to tell where it was.

The owner smiled toothily, it had found them, finally.


	3. Local Customs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Twelfth Doctor and Clara find themselves in 79 BCE at the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in ancient Pompeii, during their stay the Doctor runs into an old, or should we say younger face, and an old friend as he and Clara try and unfold the mystery of who brought them to this time period and how they were able to gain control of the TARDIS.

Clara padded down the old cobblestone road as the clutter of noises flew past her ears, she marveled at the large carts filled with varying vegetables passing her by, as well as the cheerful conversations that seemed to be originating from every angle around her. The Doctor had been waffling on for a minute or so about the importance of blending in as he continued to not do so, eyeing up every person that looked at him, almost threatening to interrogate them was not doing his "undercover" persona any favours.

As he prattled on Clara's eyes were caught by a glimmer from a small store selling various pots and plates, sitting on the front shelf however was something that worried Clara. She walked up to it, the vendor in the shop greeting her with a hello and a tight smile as she began examining it. "Excuse me," she asked, "What do you call this?"

The vendor took a step towards her and placed her hands on the object, "We call it a charm of luck in this area, a possession so beautiful it was blessed by the gods themselves so that any owner worthy and pure enough to possess it shall be prosperous in all their endeavours and shall come across abundant beauty in their journey of life." She said whilst admiring it, her wrinkled hands grasping it lovingly.

"Wow, quite a description to live up to." Clara said, quite moved by the vendors love of her product.

She looked to her left, suddenly thinking of the Doctor, knowing he would continue to walk and talk for days without noticing she wasn't there anymore and sighed with relief to see him doing a street show of sorts. A small group of children had gathered around him as he held a small, rusting coin at arms length, showcasing it's authenticity to the gleaming children, with a snap of his wrist it disappeared, Clara smiled as she heard the children gasp, even some of the adults were shocked.

Turning back to the vendor Clara continued her research into how such a strange object could make it's way here, "So, who sold you this, exactly?"

The vendor smiled and pointed up the road, "The augur of course, he's been giving so much money to the city lately that the gods favoured him with visions of these glorious possessions so that he may be thanked for the wonders he has done. He told the city that not all of the charms work to their full potential so he gave them away for others that are worthy enough to carry them."

"The augur?" Clara pressed.

"You must be born with a different tongue than ours, you do sound Celtic my dear."

"Um, thank you?"

"The augur of the town, he is our spaeman, some of lower class may even call them _soothsayers ___."

Clara became extremely intrigued at this point. "A soothsayer, you... say?"

"Some may call them soothsayers," The vendor dismissed, she then turned to a small child rattling one of her toys above his head and pecked his coins out of his hands before he sprinted off to join his friends, "But I think of them as so much more complex, I don't believe in tellers of fortune, or those who can read lives."

"So what do you think they are?" Clara queried, grinning as the elderly shopkeeper told her of such strange ideals.

"I think they are people burdened with reading the past. They know of their potential to our world and so they use the past to read the future, they look at the patterns of which the world we live on has journeyed through and they can see these patterns begin to unfurl in the present. Knowledge is not something given to someone by a god for all their goodness and purity, it is something gained by observing, watching how our own world works. That is how Lucius Petrus Dextrus can see into the future, by reading the patterns of the past." The vendor finished and leaned backwards, standing straight.

Clara wasn't even aware she begun leaning forward she was so enraptured by what the wise woman had to say, she straightened out her spine as well and took a deep breath. "Well, I must say, you give quite a compelling arguement." She praised.

"Thank you, not many agree with me, they seem to believe sight into the future is a very real thing. But while they are entitled to believe what they wish, I think many of them would believe roots could grow from stone if someone told them they needed to try hard enough." They both laughed at this and Clara turned again, this time the Doctor had disappeared, and his small fanbase of enthralled children had moved on from his antics.

Suddenly she heard steps on her other side and knew in a moment who was standing there, "Funny thing about children, no matter how many times you show them the same age old trick they'll still be amazed by it." He was leaning on the shelf of the shop when she turned to face him again, grinning cheerfully as he held out a small palm of coins in his hand, "Another funny thing, people will pay you anything to confuse them again."

"Your little audience seemed to love you."

The Doctor waited until the vendor stepped away to continue talking as she began tending to another customer, "Well, I did want to show the little ones something wondrous, in a time like this there's not much to do, eat, sleep, farm, eat, sleep, build, eat, sleep, buy. The whole process gets rather tedious." He said in that smug alien voice of his.

"Tell me one society where people didn't have structure in their lives similar to that." Clara beckoned, returning the smug look.

"The Burlians, from planet Estralin. Their entire society is based around discovery and searching the planet to expand their knowledge of life."

"Sound a bit like early hunter gatherers on Earth, all about finding out what's good and what's bad."

"Except with less murder." He muttered grimly.

"You know, you have got to stop with that awful mood all the time, you've shown me countless civilisations that murder, enslave and dictate over their own and other species, how come humans are any different in your eyes? Is it because you travel with one? If so, maybe you should grab a little Sontaran buddy to travel with in time and space. I'm just asking that for one trip you don't spend the entire time going on and on about the corruptibility of humanity and instead try and enjoy yourself." The Doctor stared at her silently.

"Here, look." Clara said suddenly, turning the Doctor's gaze to a small boy on the street, "Do you think he's such a bad person? Do you think out of every person on Earth that he might be one of the ones that are actually nice?"

"Well..." The Doctor began.

"Of course he is he's playing with a little baby goat!" Clara yelled, frustrated with the same arguement, then quieting herself as she realised she had attracted the gaze of a few people as they heard her small outburst.

The Doctor leaned in, "You haven't seen what I've seen."

"And I'm guessing that little boy's just a murderer then?"

"Well, not... necessarily..." The Doctor said hesitantly.

"Oh for god's sake."

"I'm sorry, okay, I won't mention it again for the rest of the trip, I promise, okay, savvy?" He pleaded worriedly.

"Fine." Clara replied.

As he nodded and began walking away Clara suddenly remembered the device she had spotted sitting on the shelf to her left and smiled.

She yelled out to grab the Doctor's attention, as he walked back to her begrudgingly he moved his hands as if to ask "What?"

"If you're so superior and sophisticated compared to ALL humans then how do you explain this?" She asked before stepping away to reveal the device to the Doctor and his eyes grew wide and his angry eyebrows rode up as he stared intently at the oversized circuit board sitting on the shelf.

"That's not supposed to be there." He said grimly.

Clara rolled her eyes, "I know it's not supposed to be here, it's a bloody marble slab circuit!"

"No, I mean, those are here, last time I came here these things... they... well let's just say they make an appearance in history here. But not in a street stall!" He explained before leaning in and getting the attention of the shop vendor. "Excuse me, excuse me, Miss, human, yes, sorry, where did you acquire this from?" He demanded hurriedly.

Again, she pointed up the street and said, "From the augur, Lucius Petrus Dextrus, he's been giving them away."

"Why?"

"Luck charms he told us, they don't work as well as they should so he gives them away to those who need them." The vendor explained, "Would you like to purchase it?"

"No, thank you, I've got all the luck I need at the moment." He said before backing away and looking up the street to the large house at the highest point of the city.

"Not from the sounds of it you don't." Clara added, "What's going on, why is the circuit board so... well it's sitting in ancient Pompeii so it's definitely important but what do you mean they're not supposed to be in a street stall?"

The Doctor turned to her, "I'll explain on the way to good ol' Lucius' house." He said whilst grinning.


	4. Lucius Petrus Dextrus

The Doctor knocked quickly and furiously on the door of the Temple of Apollo, his eyebrows were completely still and Clara looked him up and down as she noticed his shoulders were ever so slightly jittery. "So what's going on?" She asked, catching his attention, "Big marble circuit boards turning up in Ancient Rome and you seem to be more surprised by the fact that you found one in the street rather than the fact that they're here at all."

The Doctor glanced back at her once before banging at the door again, "Because I've seen these things before, last time I was here, they were used to reconstruct a crashed spaceship in order to drain Mount Vesuvius' energy for those who owned it. Last time I was here no one was selling them at their bloody stalls, something's changed." He explained.

"Changed, how?"

"Someone came back here and changed the course of events to lead that slab of circuitry to be sitting out there in the bloody evening sun. And somehow I didn't even notice." He said with a slight bitterness to his tone.

"I think it's morning still." Clara said with a smile on her face.

"Comedy, that's new for you." He replied

"Oi, wire-brows."

The Doctor smiled in response before turning back to the door and knocking again, "This is slightly worrying, if there is a time traveler messing around out here they could run into me. Past me, I mean. And that wouldn't sit too well with the space-time continuum."

"What I'm guessing here is paradox?" Clara asked.

"You would be right."

"You know, for people that spend their spare time travelling the universe we run into those far too often." She joked.

"I couldn't agree more." The Doctor responded with a smile.

Finally, the Door opened, a small man in brown robes with a wrinkled forehead poked his head around it and took a look at them both, "I'm sorry for the delay, Master Dextrus is somewhat ill today so he will not be receiving any guests."

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked.

"No need to apologise," The man responded before chuckling at his own joke before the Doctor's glare bore through his laugh, "Not a comedy lover then, Master Dextrus contracted a fever a few days ago, he's far too sweltered to climb out of bed."

"Right, fine then, tell him a man with very pointy eyebrows and a young woman were asking for him, will you?" Clara butted in, as the Doctor simply stared, silently, wide eyed, at the man at the door. "Don't worry, he doesn't do this that often." She added as he continued not responding.

"Very well Madam, I'd suggest coming around tomorrow, his ails may have passed by then." He said politely before closing the door with a loud _thunk_.

The Doctor straightened his back and looked at Clara, his eyes still wide. "You have got to stop looking at people like that, first off it's creepy, secondly it surprisingly gets old fast and thirdly it makes you seem like you're bearing the news of the world's end."

"We're all in terrible danger." He responded with finality, his accent thick and teeming with suspense. He then began stalking off without another word. Clara simply sighed and began jogging after him.

"Stop. Breathe. Explain. Now." She commanded as she got in the Doctor's way and pointed a finger at him, he leaned back away from it as if it were a dagger. "Something is very obviously bothering you, which you have yet to explain in a clear manner." "And?" He asked. "And, we have talked about this numerous times, when you decide to be all mysterious and stoic that usually, sometimes, almost maybe always puts me in danger. Which I know can be inconvenient for the both of us, so unless you've completely forgotten the several times you've decided **not** to tell me what's going on and put me in danger just for the hell of it; tell me now." She finished with a gasp of air.

He sighed, "Fine, I'll tell you."

\-----

The owner looked on from around the corner of the Temple, watching the pair as they walked away. They pressed a small button underneath their sleeve and suddenly a human disguise rolled over it's face in a wave motion. The face was blank and ordinary, yet the eyes were still the eyes of the owner and the red beady marbles stared at its new focus points as they seemed to have stopped arguing, the smaller one's face seemed to have become stationary as her eyes widened and the edges of her mouth dropped.

The owner then began to move towards them, it was time to introduce itself.


	5. The Potential for Disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Twelfth Doctor and Clara find themselves in 79 BCE at the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in ancient Pompeii, during their stay the Doctor runs into an old, or should we say younger face, and an old friend as he and Clara try and unfold the mystery of who brought them to this time period and how they were able to gain control of the TARDIS.

"...Because of this," The Doctor continued, "Whatever has made him fall sick, if it is true, then it's causing a paradox. The last time I was here, he was alive and well and scheming to take over the entire world, and now he's just lying in bed!"

"Isn't it a good thing the guy trying to achieve world domination is too sick to do it?" Clara asked, searching for a beacon of hope in the matter.

"Somewhat, yes, but unfortunately his not taking over the world means that the Pyroviles would take matters into their own hands, and that means Mount Vesuvius over there is never erupting, meaning the fabric of space and time gets pulled apart." He further explained, grimacing the whole time.

He looked over to Mount Vesuvius as the sun was setting behind it, soon it would be evening, and the hour of which the eruption was supposed to occur would be upon them, somehow The Doctor had to figure out what was happening.

"What if he's not sick?" Clara inferred suddenly.

"You mean he might be faking?"

"Yeah, what if he's not sick at all and he's pretending to be so people don't bother him and really he's just involved with those circuit board things you're getting so worked up about?"

As the two theorised the possibilities neither one of them noticed when a cloaked figure approached them, with their hood hanging over their face slightly they attempted to gain the pair's attention.

"Excuse me." It asked in a monotone voice.

"Not right now, sir." The Doctor dismissed simply, "We're not really interested in whatever you're selling." He said grimly without looking their way.

"Excuse me, Doctor." It said.

Clara and The Doctor both turned to look at the figure, but it kept it's hood covering its face.

"Do I know you?" The Doctor asked curiously.

"No." It responded simply, "But I know of you two, and I know the dilemma that has befallen the both of you."

"Which is?"

"The mystery of Lucius Petrus Dextrus, and whether his sickness is as true as his servant makes it out to be." The owner further explained.

"Do you know what's actually going on?" Clara asked.

"I do, I can give you the information you need, all I ask is you follow me."

The Doctor fell into a sudden chuckle followed by shaking his head, "Haha, no, we're not falling for that one that easily. Tell us who you are first and then we'll consider believing anything you have to say."

"My name is Helil, I am from the planet Rotundarr." Helil explained quickly.

"You're a Rotundarrian? Brilliant! I haven't met one of you lot in centuries. How's the home planet?" The Doctor asked, his grim expression somehow turning suddenly excited.

"I am afraid you misunderstand Doctor, I am from the planet Rotundarr but I am not one of them. Please, follow me to my home and I will explain." Helil then sauntered between them, walking off in the direction of the volcano, his walk had a slight hypnotic rhythm to it, his shoulders barely swayed but his legs moved as if they were waving back and forth like waves in the ocean.

The Doctor and Clara soon followed after him, "You think he's telling the truth?" Clara whispered to the Doctor, just in case their new alien friend had super hearing abilities.

"I think it wants to help, which is more than nothing."

"Let's just hope he can help us stop whatever this augur is planning."

"I really do hope so." The Doctor answered as they followed Helil down the cobblestone path, angling through the slowly thinning crowd as the day wore on. Neither of them were able to see what occurred behind them as all of a sudden a young brown haired man and a red haired woman came barreling through the crowd caught in what many would describe as a lover's tiff. The two were continuously shouting at one another, blurting out strange words like TARDIS, volcano and Donna. The likes of which had never been heard before save two others in the crowd. And just as the two fell into the street, they left it, still shouting at one another as they hurried through.

The Doctor looked behind him suspiciously, he had the oddest feeling he'd just narrowly avoided something horrible, before shrugging it off and catching up to Clara and Helil.


	6. The Helper of Rotundarr

Clara turned to the Doctor as they both swayed through the streets, "So what makes you so trustworthy of people from Rotundarr?"

"Rotundarrians are one of the few races in the universe that help anyone that comes to their aid. No matter what race, species or breed you are they will always assist you when you're in need, they have a global health regime to keep their citizens healthy and happy. They outlawed war tens of thousands of years ago, they've still kept that true even now." The Doctor explained with a slight smile on his face.

As they walked Clara looked to the person named Helil, he apparently wasn't a Rotundarrian so Clara wondered what on Earth they were. They had a systematic rhythm in their walk that they never fell out of, and an extremely monotonous voice to go with it.

"How does an entire planet outlaw war?" She asked.

"They simply got rid of each countries war administrations, the governments became united as one. That government gave the same exact rights to every single member of their species, true equality drew from their unity." He was almost gleeful at their sudden advancements and new friend, Clara smiled, it was rare to see him this giddy about something, or at least someone.

Helil finally brought them to his stall and opened up the small gate for them, they walked through, noticing all the small knick-knacks that lines the shelves and proceeded through behind the store. The back opened up into a small living space, a small circular room with many chests and bags on the ground, and a large wooden table sat in the middle.

"This is where you live?" The Doctor asked Helil as he shut the door behind him.

"Yes. I have been living here for several weeks now." Helil responded, sitting down at the table with the both of them.

"What for? Shouldn't you be on your own planet?"

Helil remained silent for a few seconds before lifting his hood off his face, revealing a simple man underneath. "Well, Doctor, that's the problem." He said before raising his hand to his neck and flipping a switch embedded in his right shoulder.

The disguise wavered off of its face, revealing the mechanical engineering. "I can't get back there."

The Doctor looked on in shock, "You're beautiful." He said in awe.

"Thank you Doctor, I am a model class Evering 450 droid." Helil's face was complete with hundreds of small metal intricacies, lining their cheeks were dozens of metal ridges that drew a human like structure. Embedded in their face were two bright blue glowing eyes. The Doctor couldn't stop studying the mechanics of Helil's face.

"So what are you doing down here on Earth? Shouldn't you be working?" The Doctor asked.

Clara was completely befuddled by the current events. The man she saw for half a second was suddenly a robot and the Doctor wouldn't stop gazing into their face lovingly. She had to ask what the hell was going on.

Before she could speak up Helil answered, "I'm afraid not, not until I have completed my purpose here."

"And what is your purpose here?" She asked quickly.

Helil looked at her, their glowing blue eyes turning quickly to her, "My purpose here is to prevent a Time Shut Down from occuring."

"A Time Shut Down? What's that?"

The Doctor answered, his voice suddenly worrying, "A Time Shut Down is when too many different intruders converge in one single point of space time that revolves around a time locked moment in history, in this case Mount Vesuvius. With my old self running around here with the Pyroviles, as well as you and I, as well as whatever caused those circuit boards to leave Dextrus' home there are too many interfering people in one big point in history, which explains why the TARDIS broke down."

"What do you mean?" Clara asked as everything was starting to piece together. "How could the Shut Down trap us here?"

"Us entering this time zone was the last straw, we are now in a dead spot in history, no other time travelers apart from the ones who are in Pompeii at this moment will ever be able to return to this city in these specific periods of time for at least two hundred years before or after." The Doctor now looked grim, as did Clara feel, if they weren't able to somehow fix what had happened they'd be completely stranded.

"The TARDIS shutting down was to stop anything else from happening, there have been so many close calls with a paradox for this city that it's had enough of us." The Doctor was now leaning back in his chair.

"But there is a way to fix it." Helil said, with a hint of triumph. "I've managed to find the intruder in time who arrived after your previous selves and before your current selves."

"Oh, I'm not a Time Lady." Clara corrected.

"My mistake, I was simply making an assumption." Helil apologised before getting up from his chair and walking to a large chest sat behind the table.

"You didn't happen to put the intruder in there did you?" The Doctor joked.

"In here are pictures of the intruder, I am afraid the matter of their presence is much more dangerous to this timeline than either of us originally predicted Doctor."

Helil opened his chest and lifted a small stack of sharp images out of it, he turned and handed them to the Doctor.

He looked down at them, as did Clara.


End file.
